1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to presence information management methods and presence information management systems and, in particular, to a presence information management method and a presence information management system for managing the presence information of the user.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although the use of e-mail has been popular as communication means between bases with the spread of networks, there are still many occasions to make phone calls as communication means for sure contact or in emergencies.
In a company or the like which has many bases or business establishments and is equipped with telephones and an in-company LAN (Local Area Network), when an employee wants to contact a person who happens to be in a separate base or a business establishment, he/she may use the e-mail address of the person he/she wants to talk to. In making a phone call on the phone, on the other hand, it is necessary for the employee to call the number of the telephone on the desk of the person. When the person is not at his/her desk, however, the employee would have to ask where the person is, have the call transferred to the person's location, or make a new call to the person's location.
In this case, information in advance as to whether the person in question is present or absent will save time and labor in contacting the person in question. A server providing the so-called presence information which informs whether the person to be called is at his/her desk or elsewhere is called a presence server.
The means of the presence server to automatically collect presence information includes a method of using a sensor to sense presence, a method of retrieving the records of the user who has used GPS (Global Positioning System), a wireless LAN, and FeliCa (non-contact IC card technology) and of specifying the presence information of the user, and a method of using fingerprint seal data.
Further, with a mobile phone, it is possible to easily collect presence information such as positional information of the user using the mobile phone through the use of the information of a base station in communication with the mobile phone and GPS. However, when these methods are actually introduced into a company or the like, it is necessary to develop an infrastructure such as a sensor.
Further, even when mobile phones are to be used, it is costly to supply mobile phones to all employees. Making a phone call from a company land line to a mobile phone costs more money than making a call to a land line. In terms of cost, the system of using mobile phones is not applicable to all companies.
The function to know of the presence information of the other party without newly introducing the above-described infrastructures including the presence server is provided by an instant messaging (IM) service using a Web server and groupware. Note, however, that most of these necessitate the user to input his/her presence information point by point when he/she is expected to be absent or change his/her location. Further, it is necessary to install a tool for providing information in the terminals of all the users involved.
Further, there is a method of sensing presence with a sensor and notifying the telephone server of the result thus sensed, thereby acquiring information on the other party to whom the caller wants to make a call. (see, e.g., patent document 1).
Further, patent document 2 describes a connection technique by which connections between clients is automatically established while managing an IP address to make IP (Internet Protocol) telephony or the like available for actual use.
In patent document 3, there is described the status management of a seat performed between a client and a server via a network, which has the function of automatic registration/deletion, etc., of the seat.
In patent document 4, there is described a technique by which a telephone number and an IP address are associated with each other to facilitate communications on the Internet.    [Patent Document 1] JP-A-2000-134336    [Patent Document 2] JP-A-2002-169776    [Patent Document 3] JP-A-2002-259648    [Patent Document 4] JP-A-2002-534914